Are you willing to give me an idea of the major components/function of my system?

Greetings /r/hvac

I'm a homeowner who is thinking about requesting some changes to our HVAC system because it isn't good enough. I am hoping to have at least a basic understanding of what equipment is at play and what does what before I start talking to local HVAC companies.

We have a 9-year old house with a heat pump system. There is no gas line to the house. We live in Central Indiana where summers are humid with sustained temps around 90. Winters are typically sustained in the teens, though this winter was exceptionally cold hovering in single digits for a few weeks. I change the filter monthly. I have HVAC company out 1x/year per maintenance agreement. They have said that I should refill the coolant, which suggests a leak. They then digitally detected a leak and suggested replacing the entire system because a coil costs $2000. It also kind of felt like a standard sales tactic of "why not just buy it new for $250 more". I'm just skeptical of being suckered.

Everything seems to work ok, but not good enough. In the winter, the system just doesn't seem to keep up and we couldn't seem to get it to stay over about 70. Now with the summer, we can't get it below 75 during the day. I hate for it to run constantly, so we're making the house less comfortable than we'd like at either extreme.

There is a large fan thing outside, what is it?

Inside, there appears to be two things, maybe one is the heat pump and the other is the air handler?

I've heard a neighbor mention a hybrid system where it is a heat pump (more efficient???), but then when it is really cold, the gas furnace kicks in instead of the current emergency heat that is really, really expensive to run. Is this a good option?

We've considered having a gas furnaced installed. The gas company has confirmed they'll run service to the house (from the street) for free if we're hooking up a furnace. I understand I'd still need a plumber to finish the installation inside. What do you think of this?

Why is it a "heat pump" instead of just AC and furnace? Does furnace specifically refer to something that burns gas?

Is a coil leak repairable?

If the coolant is low, would refilling it fix my cooling issues?

submitted by /u/slitt_vicious
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